Overrated and overhyped

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Not only do we owe it to monkeys for we evolved from them but if it were not for Charlie sticking a fork up Richmond's posterior, mankind would not have made a leap to the moon. So behind every man there is a monkey putting a fork up the man's posterior. Richmond takes leave before the big launch. Espionage with comedic paranoia and sci-fi elements are present in this film and romance with the beautiful dame Lyrae by Dany Saval . She is quirky. Richmond breaks all the rules the general has set for him all for the dame with the unbelievable story. They search for this woman 'spy' like the usual suspects and find probably the craziest women in town. The Eagle got launched into space Lyrae appears. They stop communicating with the general as his shouting was killing the mood. Richmond and Lyrae take a minor detour to the twilight zone LOL. The end.

I'd missed out on this one as both as a VHS rental and on local TV in the past but which, bafflingly, hasn't been available anywhere else (not even on DVD) until now…or, perhaps, not so strange – since it's considered pretty much an outdated early movie about the space program!That said, the film has always enjoyed a reputation as one of the better Walt Disney live-action efforts – an opinion I was happy to share after watching it for myself (especially given my recent disappointment with such other popular albeit ultra-juvenile fare as THE GNOME-MOBILE [1967] and the two "Witch Mountain" outings). In fact, this has very few concessions to the typical Disney 'cuteness' (basically extending to the inevitable romance and an over-eager member at the space center breaking into a would-be hip "Go, man, go!" routine with every shuttle launch) and is clearly elevated by the presence of strong actors – Tom Tryon is ideally cast in the lead, though it's Brian Keith as his constantly exasperated superior and Edmond O'Brien as the dogged yet bewildered Federal Security man who dominate much of the proceedings (especially when the two engage in shouting matches between themselves).Anyway, as can be gleaned from the title, the plot involves attempts by the U.S. to orbit the moon: the first guinea-pig is a chimp which, however, goes berserk on returning home; undeterred, a human volunteer is requested – Tryon, of course (though he's actually air-sick!). Soon after, he begins to be followed by a petite girl of obvious foreign origins (Dany Saval, whose gaucheness starts off by being corny but eventually proves disarming) – who not only knows all about his supposedly top-secret mission but actively wants to impart to him vital information about his safety 'up there'; however, he believes her to be a spy and tries his best to avoid her! Still, she manages to turn up at the most unexpected places (even after O'Brien has him 'kidnapped' to a hotel) and eventually confesses to being an alien – clearly possessing advanced knowledge and who, atypically for the sci-fi genre, intends to extend help to Earth people rather than conquer them! MOON PILOT, then, resorts agreeably to such well-worn albeit effective suspense/spy movie trappings as the "McGuffin" (in the form of the missing element which would allow humans to adapt to the atmosphere in outer space), chases, impersonation and, it goes without saying, the growing affection between hero and heroine thrown into this unusual situation. Apart from the obvious space gadgetry, the sci-fi aspect of the film is evident in the scene in which, to demonstrate her powers, Saval gives Tryon a foretaste of his/their future. As always with Disney films, however, comedy is as much an intrinsic ingredient of the formula: best of all are the running 'unreliable elevator' gag with Tryon and O'Brien, and the potentially campy suspects' line-up of beatniks (under whose guise Saval has descended to Earth – clearly a sign of the times). Keith's queasy look during the latter sequence is priceless…as is his final flustered off-screen outburst when Tryon and Saval sign off in space courtesy of a Sherman Brothers love song!

Pun aside, this really is a great movie. I don't know why it wasn't one of Disney's bigger hits. Anyway, the plot concerns an unwilling astronaut who meets up with an alien shortly before he needs to leave for the space center. And the alien has a very important message for him! Then when the astronaut disappears to talk with the alien, Federal Security and some high-ranked Air Force men get involved in the search! If you can find this movie somewhere, definitely buy it! I'm anxiously waiting for Disney to reissue this movie on video, like they've been doing with so many of their old classic comedies.

An astronaut has his moonshot delayed by a series of seemingly endless personal problems. A feast for fans of unintentional absurdity, though the kiddies may wonder if he makes it to the moon after all. In turn, adults may wonder what the heck all this has got to do with the space program.